Advertisement

Advertisement

Feedback

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS companies are being inundated with complaints from
people who say their fax machines are suddenly going into “receive” mode for no
apparent reason. Some mysterious force is activating them, but no fax
materialises.

After an investigation, NEC, Matsushita and other fax makers concluded that
noises at exactly the same frequency as a fax “handshake”—1300
hertz—must be triggering the machines. So what could be making such
noises? The Japanese magazine Sunday Mainichi, which investigated the
phenomenon, quotes an acoustics expert as saying that a high note on a piano or
a whistle could be at such a frequency—as could a woman’s scream.

So if your fax machine suddenly starts trying to receive a fax that fails to
appear, remember it could just be a cry for help.

HOW HEART-WARMING to hear that Barbie has donated her body to science.
According to a report in the Tasmanian newspaper The Advocate, Jane
Bahor of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, has been
using plastic knee joints from old Barbie dolls to make prosthetic fingers. So
far, around a dozen patients have benefited from the technique.

SOME VISITORS to IFA 99, the world’s largest consumer electronics show held
in Berlin recently, looked a bit queasy. A little detective work revealed that
they had each just paid £15 to subject themselves to the Ejection Seat,
which was parked near the entrance to the show.

This hi-tech instrument of torture works on the reverse bungee principle. A
capsule is tethered by pivot joints to two elastic ropes which are anchored to
the tops of two tall vertical masts. The paying victim is strapped into the
capsule while it is held on the ground by an electromagnet. The elastic ropes
are then progressively stretched by a winch. Finally, the operator presses a
button to switch off the magnet. The released capsule catapults upwards to a
height of around 100 metres, plunges down and then up again like a yo-yo, all
the time spinning on its pivots.

What struck Feedback was that whereas people on fairground rides usually
scream with joy or terror, the people in the capsule stayed deathly silent. The
G forces created by ejection were too high to allow them to open their mouths
and force out air.

A FEW weeks ago we noted the crisis of faith revealed by an Internet browser
when it was asked to find the address www. god.com and replied that the
host wasn’t available (10 July). Now Richard Gibbons writes to tell us of the
commendable religious modesty of an IBM mainframe using the Phoenix system,
which he once worked with at the University of Cambridge. When, in a moment of
desperation, he typed in “Help, God”, the computer replied: “Deities must be
invoked directly and not via Phoenix MVS.”

BEING DEAD has its advantages.

Timothy Surendonk’s fiancée received a form notifying her that she had
been included on the jury service roll for Parramatta, New South Wales. Curious
about the policy on exemptions from service, Surendonk read the list of valid
excuses.

There were three classes of exemption. The first covered those disqualified
from jury service—people who have been in trouble with the law. The second
concerned those ineligible for service—law enforcers, the sick, the armed
forces. The final category consisted of those who can claim an exemption if they
wish. The list includes clergy, doctors, pharmacists, mine managers and deceased
persons.

Fortunately, if the deceased person is unable to check their mail, their
friends or relatives are allowed to return the form. As for those who die
friendless and with no relatives, evidently they have to serve.

HOWEVER, THERE is some reassuring news for those who want to be doubly sure
they won’t be deprived of the opportunity to do jury service by their demise.
Jan McNeill writes that the Bonus Certificate she received from her insurance
company, the Mutual Life and Citizens’ Assurance Company of New South Wales,
assured her that: “Your above insurance policy provides valuable protection
against death.”

ON THE back of a bottle of Pears 2-in-1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner, we
are told: “. . . and because Pears contains simple, trusted ingredients it will
leave your family’s hair beautifully soft”.

FINALLY, THANK-YOU to our youngest ever contributor, James Glanville (aged
7), for sending us the box his sister’s toy pushchair came in. On one side is a
picture of a happy little girl playing with a doll seated in the pushchair.
Above it there is an explanatory note to avoid disappointment when the box is
opened: “Doll and child not included.”